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Latest opinion, analysis and discussion from the Guardian. CP Scott: "Comment is free, but facts are sacred"en-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017Tue, 26 Sep 2017 23:03:56 GMT2017-09-26T23:03:56Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017The Guardianhttps://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttps://www.theguardian.com
Puerto Rico is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. Where is the media? | Susanne Ramirez de Arellanohttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/puerto-rico-brink-humanitarian-crisis-media
<p> The destruction in Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Maria has received relatively little attention. Are our disasters not important enough?</p><p>Hurricane Maria – the most powerful hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in 89 years – devastated the island when it hit early Wednesday morning. If the US government doesn’t act swiftly, 3.5 million people will face a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.</p><p>Currently, large parts of the island have no water, power or cellphone coverage. An incredible 1,360 out of 1,600 <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/9/25/16360488/hurricane-maria-2017-puerto-rico-recovery-san-juan-hospitals-electricty-cell-service">cellphone towers are down</a>. According to some reports, it could take <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/9/23/16354564/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-electricity-relief-dam-breaking">four to six months</a> for electricity to be restored. Hospitals and other emergency services are struggling to cope. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/puerto-rico-brink-humanitarian-crisis-media">Continue reading...</a>US newsPuerto RicoWorld newsHurricane MariaTue, 26 Sep 2017 10:00:39 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/puerto-rico-brink-humanitarian-crisis-mediaPhotograph: Carlos Giusti/APPhotograph: Carlos Giusti/APSusanne Ramirez de Arellano2017-09-26T10:00:39ZRemember this about Donald Trump. He knows the depths of American bigotry | Gary Youngehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/donald-trump-nfl-kneeling-national-anthem
<p>Though the US president is under attack over the NFL players’ protest, he has a loyal base, and understands how to fuel their prejudices</p><p>Two Sundays ago, after a night of tense confrontations, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41306935">police in St Louis trooped through the city</a> chanting: “Whose streets? Our streets.” They were mocking marchers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/15/ex-st-louis-police-officer-found-not-guilty-murder-jason-stockley-anthony-lamar-smith">protesting at the acquittal of a former police officer</a>, who had fatally shot a black man after a high-speed pursuit. This in the city just a few miles away from Ferguson, where <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/25/law-ferguson-verdict-not-justice-darren-wilson">Michael Brown was shot dead</a> in the middle of the day in 2014.</p><p>Then last Friday, Donald Trump went to Alabama and branded NFL players who have been expressing their support for Black Lives Matter by kneeling during the pre-game national anthem, “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/sep/22/donald-trump-nfl-national-anthem-protests">sons of bitches</a>”. To cheers from the crowd, he said: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. He is fired. He’s fired! … Total disrespect of our heritage, a total disrespect of everything that we stand for. Everything that we stand for.” This in the state that <a href="http://www.salon.com/2001/03/08/sollors/">kept its local ban on interracial marriage until 2000</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/donald-trump-nfl-kneeling-national-anthem">Continue reading...</a>Race issuesUS newsDonald TrumpUS politicsUS sportsTue, 26 Sep 2017 06:00:35 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/donald-trump-nfl-kneeling-national-anthemPhotograph: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesGary Younge2017-09-26T06:00:35ZThe AfD’s breakthrough shows that parties of the left must get radicalhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/afd-germany-sdp-social-democracy-jeremy-corbyn
<p>Germany’s SPD is not alone – social democracy is in crisis across Europe. As Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour understands, we need a complete break with the neoliberal model</p><p>‘Some of us are beginning to think it is the end of the project.” That was how a senior European social democrat spoke to me of the future of mainstream socialism last week. The German SPD’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2017/sep/24/german-elections-2017-latest-results-live-merkel-bundestag-afd">abject failure in Sunday’s election</a> will have done little to lift the gloom. After 12 years of playing sidekick to Angela Merkel, it will go into opposition, bereft of a strategy and rightly worried about the breakthrough of the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD).</p><p>If the leaders of German social democracy are feeling responsible for their own collapse and the far-right’s gain, they can at least take comfort that they are not alone. The French socialist party <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/20/no-chance-socialist-party-heading-for-implosion-in-french-elections">evaporated in the run-up to this year’s presidential election</a>; the Dutch Labour party <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_(Netherlands)">saw its vote slump to 5.7%</a>; and the Austrian socialist party is facing defeat in next month’s election – which will likely bring to power the first coalition of mainstream conservatives and neo-fascists in the EU.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/afd-germany-sdp-social-democracy-jeremy-corbyn">Continue reading...</a>GermanyAngela MerkelPoliticsLabourEuropean UnionJeremy CorbynMon, 25 Sep 2017 14:22:54 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/afd-germany-sdp-social-democracy-jeremy-corbynPhotograph: Filip Singer/EPAPhotograph: Filip Singer/EPAPaul Mason2017-09-25T14:22:54ZMemo to Trump after his NFL rant: sport is, and always has been, politicalhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/24/donald-trump-nfl-nba-steph-curry-lebron-james-roger-goodell
<p>Even by his standards, the President’s rhetoric when calling for protesting footballers to be fired, was crude, and cruel. And it played to our worst instincts</p><p>Politics and sport have been bedfellows since at least the birth of the ancient Olympic Games some 28 centuries ago, when city states that vied year-round for finite resources came up with a venue of bloodless competition to keep themselves from killing each other.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/sep/22/donald-trump-nfl-national-anthem-protests">Donald Trump blasts NFL anthem protesters: 'Get that son of a bitch off the field'</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/24/donald-trump-nfl-nba-steph-curry-lebron-james-roger-goodell">Continue reading...</a>US sportsDonald TrumpNFLNBABasketballSportUS newsWorld newsSun, 24 Sep 2017 10:30:42 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/24/donald-trump-nfl-nba-steph-curry-lebron-james-roger-goodellPhotograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesBryan Armen Graham2017-09-24T10:30:42ZThe New York Times had an anti-Hillary Clinton agenda? That's untrue | Jill Abramsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/new-york-times-hillary-clinton-agenda-jill-abramson
<p>Despite claims made in her recent book, the news editors at the paper were never hostile to Clinton. The only proof I have is that I was there <br></p><ul><li>Jill Abramson is the former executive editor of The New York Times</li></ul><p> In her book, Hillary Clinton says the news media has not done enough soul-searching about its role in her loss.</p><p>Her argument boils down to this: too much firepower was aimed at her emails, part of a long pattern of unfair scandal mongering over the years. Unfair press coverage fueled the “lock her up” frenzy and created doubts in the minds of some undecided voters.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/new-york-times-hillary-clinton-agenda-jill-abramson">Continue reading...</a>Hillary ClintonUS newsNew York TimesMon, 25 Sep 2017 10:00:11 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/new-york-times-hillary-clinton-agenda-jill-abramsonPhotograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty ImagesJill Abramson2017-09-25T10:00:11ZThink Paul Manafort is about to sink the White House? Hold your horses | Walter Shapirohttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/23/paul-manafort-white-house-mueller-investigation
<p>In legal terms, maybe all that Trump is guilty of is terrible taste in campaign advisers and bad luck with his son-in-law</p><p>When Paul Manafort, a Ronald Reagan veteran, moved to take charge of the amateur-hour Donald Trump campaign in early April 2016, the press coverage was respectful, even a bit fawning. </p><p>Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was quoted in the New York Times calling Manafort’s ascension “a step in the right direction” and in the same story Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio hailed the move as welcome evidence that Trump knew that he needs to hire “experienced and seasoned hands.”<br tabindex="-1"></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/23/paul-manafort-white-house-mueller-investigation">Continue reading...</a>US newsTrump administrationDonald TrumpPaul ManafortSat, 23 Sep 2017 10:00:13 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/23/paul-manafort-white-house-mueller-investigationPhotograph: Matt Rourke/APPhotograph: Matt Rourke/APWalter Shapiro2017-09-23T10:00:13ZShame on Harvard for welcoming Sean Spicer – but spurning Chelsea Manning | Francine Prosehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/22/shame-harvard-sean-spicer-chelsea-manning
<p>Its time to withdraw support from the university after it invited Sean Spicer and Corey Lewandowski, but rescinded a fellowship for Chelsea Manning</p><p>I graduated from Harvard in 1968. (Officially, my diploma was from Radcliffe, the now disbanded women’s college, but all of our classes were at Harvard.) That year, Harvard’s graduation speaker was the shah of Iran, and many of us wore black armbands and boycotted the ceremony to protest against the oppressive Iranian government’s human rights violations.</p><p>In 1993, I returned for our 25th reunion. The graduation speaker was Colin Powell, the defense secretary, who had supported the Clinton administration’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on openly gay members of the military. And my class (along with the rest of the audience) gave him a standing ovation.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/22/shame-harvard-sean-spicer-chelsea-manning">Continue reading...</a>Harvard UniversitySean SpicerChelsea ManningEducationFri, 22 Sep 2017 10:00:44 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/22/shame-harvard-sean-spicer-chelsea-manningPhotograph: Buckner/Variety/REX/ShutterstockPhotograph: Buckner/Variety/REX/ShutterstockFrancine Prose2017-09-22T10:00:44ZIs Trump about to repeat George W Bush's worst mistake? | Michael Fuchshttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/20/trump-george-w-bush-worst-mistake-iran
<p>In 2002, Bush used his UN speech to argue for action against Iraq. Let’s hope Trump’s first UN speech isn’t the opening salvo in a preventable war with Iran</p><p>In 2003, the United States initiated perhaps the greatest strategic disaster in US history by diverting attention from a necessary war in Afghanistan to an unnecessary war in Iraq. The Iraq war resulted in hundreds of thousands dead and wounded, untold economic catastrophe, states in the Middle East in complete ruin, and the rise of Isis – all while the effort to go after terrorists in Afghanistan languished. </p><p>President Donald Trump’s first speech before the United Nations general assembly this week made clear that Trump wants to take America down a similar path by diverting much-needed attention from North Korea to starting an unnecessary conflict with Iran. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/20/trump-george-w-bush-worst-mistake-iran">Continue reading...</a>US foreign policyDonald TrumpTrump administrationWed, 20 Sep 2017 10:00:15 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/20/trump-george-w-bush-worst-mistake-iranPhotograph: Shannon Stapleton/ReutersPhotograph: Shannon Stapleton/ReutersMichael H Fuchs2017-09-20T10:00:15ZWho’s the world’s leading eco-vandal? It’s Angela Merkel | George Monbiothttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/world-leading-eco-vandal-angela-merkel-german-environmental
Ignore her reputation for supporting green initiatives. The German chancellor’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster<p>Which living person has done most to destroy the natural world and the future wellbeing of humanity? Donald Trump will soon be the correct answer, when the full force of his havoc has been felt. But for now I would place&nbsp;another name in the frame: Angela&nbsp;Merkel.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/16/germany-europe-angela-merkel-europe">Germany won’t lead the free world. It barely looks beyond its own borders | Natalie Nougayrède</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/world-leading-eco-vandal-angela-merkel-german-environmental">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentAngela MerkelWorld newsGermanyEuropeEuropean UnionClimate changeGreenhouse gas emissionsTue, 19 Sep 2017 19:12:46 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/world-leading-eco-vandal-angela-merkel-german-environmentalPhotograph: Angelo Carconi/EPAPhotograph: Angelo Carconi/EPAGeorge Monbiot2017-09-19T19:12:46ZIt's time to take the 'great' white men of science off their pedestals | Yarden Katzhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/white-supremacist-statues-must-fall-scientists
<p>Yes, the Oxford statue of Rhodes should fall but why not novelist HG Wells, a eugenics enthusiast, and J Marion Sim, the ‘father of gynaecology’ who experimented on slaves, too</p><p>Science’s most elite magazine, Nature, published an editorial recently arguing that calling for monuments to figures such as J Marion Sims – often called the “father of gynaecology” – to be removed amounts to “whitewashing” history. Sims is widely praised for developing techniques in gynaecological surgery and founding a women’s hospital in New York in the mid-1800s. But Sims experimented on enslaved black women and infants, operating up to 30 times on one woman to perfect his method. Last month, women wearing bloodied hospital gowns staged a protest by Sims’s statue outside the New York Academy of Medicine.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/18/battle-prejudice-warrior-women-ancient-amazons">A battle with prejudice: why we overlook the warrior women of ancient times | Natalie Haynes</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/white-supremacist-statues-must-fall-scientists">Continue reading...</a>ScienceBiologyRace issuesBiographyMediaUS newsWorld newsUK newsTue, 19 Sep 2017 05:00:08 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/white-supremacist-statues-must-fall-scientistsIllustration: Andrzej KrauzeIllustration: Andrzej KrauzeYarden Katz2017-09-19T05:00:08ZHistory will judge those who don't stop sex trafficking | Rob Portmanhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/stop-sex-trafficking-bill-rob-porter
<p>For too long, websites like Backpage, that <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=2&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwigocKL86_WAhUFYyYKHQnkBkUQFgguMAE&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hsgac.senate.gov%2Fsubcommittees%2Finvestigations%2Fhearings%2Fbackpagecoms-knowing-facilitation-of-online-sex-trafficking&amp;usg=AFQjCNEMZViZVFXqqEQPg0yftrTntPf_Mw"> knowingly</a> run ads selling underage girls, have escaped justice. We can fix that flaw now – if we want to<br></p><p>On Christmas Eve 2016, while Yvonne Ambrose should have been enjoying the company of her family and celebrating the holiday, she was instead grappling with the news that her 16-year-old daughter, Desiree, was found murdered in a parking garage that morning. <br></p><p>As the heartbroken mother has described, Desiree was being sold for sex on Backpage.com – the leading website for online sex trafficking – when she was murdered. Yvonne is, sadly, one of many mothers whose daughters have been exploited on the internet.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/stop-sex-trafficking-bill-rob-porter">Continue reading...</a>InternetTechnologyUS crimeUS SenateTue, 19 Sep 2017 10:00:14 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/stop-sex-trafficking-bill-rob-porterPhotograph: Rafe Swan/Cultura RF/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Rafe Swan/Cultura RF/Getty ImagesRob Portman2017-09-19T10:00:14ZHow would Trump handle a terror attack? | Aziz Huqhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/18/how-would-trump-handle-a-terror-attack
<p>His responses to Syria, North Korea and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma offer a glimpse into how the White House would deal with a domestic attack<br></p><p>On a sunny day, on a crowded urban street, a heavy van leaps suddenly onto the sideway. It accelerates. It kills and injures dozens. Or an improvised bomb explodes on public transport, injuring many. A perpetrator, apprehended quickly due to CCTV footage, professes allegiance to Isis but claims to have acted alone. <br></p><p>A version of this awful scene was replayed in Barcelona and just days ago in London – but what if it were to happen in the US? How would its government respond?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/18/how-would-trump-handle-a-terror-attack">Continue reading...</a>US newsMon, 18 Sep 2017 10:49:56 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/18/how-would-trump-handle-a-terror-attackPhotograph: Alamy Stock PhotoPhotograph: Alamy Stock PhotoAziz Huq2017-09-18T10:49:56ZWhy Fox doesn't want Americans to see NFL players protesting about race | Ameer Hasan Logginshttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/14/fox-americans-nfl-players
<p>The channel deliberately chose to hide black NFL players protesting police brutality over the weekend, and the reasons are all too clear<br></p><p>Did you notice that during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner, Philadelphia Eagles player Malcolm Jenkins firmly raised his fist, as a symbolic gesture of black opposition to various forms of systemic oppression? No? Did you see Rodney McLeod and Chris Long alongside Jenkins in solidarity with the cause in which he is standing for? No? You are not alone. Viewers at home did not see any of this – not by accident, but by design.</p><p>Fox kept the cameras off of the players, blacking out their protest against racial injustice. While Fox screened an interview before the game with a black player – Michael Bennett – about why he was protesting, the fact that the network hid the actual protest irked many NFL fans.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/14/fox-americans-nfl-players">Continue reading...</a>Race issuesColin KaepernickThu, 14 Sep 2017 18:04:16 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/14/fox-americans-nfl-playersPhotograph: Marcio Jose Sanchez/APPhotograph: Marcio Jose Sanchez/APAmeer Hasan Loggins2017-09-14T18:04:16ZTrump lied about 'voter fraud' ... now he wants to steal people's votes | Lawrence Douglashttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/14/how-trumps-most-toxic-lie-is-becoming-an-institutional-reality
<p>When Trump claimed that millions ‘voted illegally’ in 2016, it laid the groundwork for a voter commission that looks set to restrict rights to minorities</p><p>Of the hundreds of whoppers that President Trump has told since his election, an early one remains the most toxic. In days following his electoral college victory, Trump claimed that he would have also won the popular vote “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” Trump later refined this claim, insisting that three to five million undocumented voters threw the popular election for Clinton.</p><p>By way of proof, the president waved at an outlandish story: that golfer Bernhard Langer – a German citizen, barred from voting in the in the US – had had his path to the voting booth clogged by men and women, who by skin color and accent were obviously fraudulent voters.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/14/how-trumps-most-toxic-lie-is-becoming-an-institutional-reality">Continue reading...</a>US newsTrump administrationDonald TrumpThu, 14 Sep 2017 18:06:29 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/14/how-trumps-most-toxic-lie-is-becoming-an-institutional-realityPhotograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesLawrence Douglas2017-09-14T18:06:29ZTrump wants to bring jobs back. Fixing the opioid crisis is part of that task | Rakeen Mabudhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/16/trump-opioid-crisis-unemployment
<p>In a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/1_krueger.pdf">new paper</a>, labour economist Alan Krueger finds that employment dropped in areas where more opioids are prescribed. Our so-called ‘jobs president’ must act<br></p><p>By all accounts, we are living in a humanitarian and public health crisis. Deaths from prescription opioid overdose have <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1515917#t=article">quadrupled</a> in the last 15 years, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/05/upshot/opioid-epidemic-drug-overdose-deaths-are-rising-faster-than-ever.html?_r=0">data</a> show that as of June 2017, the number of opioid deaths has surpassed the peak of the HIV/Aids crisis in 1995. <br></p><p>Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of <a href="https://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/opioid-addiction-disease-facts-figures.pdf">accidental death</a> in the United States. Profit-seeking by pharmaceutical companies is ultimately behind the rise of opioid prescriptions – and all the broken lives that result from this epidemic. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/16/trump-opioid-crisis-unemployment">Continue reading...</a>US newsOpioidsHealthTrump administrationSat, 16 Sep 2017 15:40:52 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/16/trump-opioid-crisis-unemploymentPhotograph: Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty ImagesRakeen Mabud2017-09-16T15:40:52ZHillary Clinton's book has a clear message: don't blame me | Thomas Frankhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/12/hillary-clintons-book-what-happened-clear-message
<p>Hillary Clinton simply cannot escape her satisfied white-collar worldview. This prevents her from understanding the events of 2016</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/11/hillary-clinton-what-happened-memoir-donald-trump-1984">News: Clinton’s new memoir compares Trump’s ‘war on truth’ to Orwell’s 1984</a></li></ul><p>How do you lose the presidency to a man like Donald Trump? He was the most unpopular presidential candidate of all time, compounding blunder with blunder and heaping gaffe upon gaffe. Keeping him from the Oval Office should have been the single-minded mission of the Democratic party. And it should have been easy for them.</p><p>Instead they lost, and now their 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton comes before us to account for this monumental failure, to tell us What Happened. Unfortunately, her new book is less an effort to explain than it is to explain away.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/12/hillary-clintons-book-what-happened-clear-message">Continue reading...</a>US newsHillary ClintonDonald TrumpUS politicsWorld newsUS elections 2016Bernie SandersDemocratsTue, 12 Sep 2017 09:00:31 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/12/hillary-clintons-book-what-happened-clear-messagePhotograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesThomas Frank2017-09-12T09:00:31ZUniversal healthcare in America? Not a taboo now, thanks to Bernie Sanders | Ross Barkanhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/14/universal-healthcare-america-bernie-sanders
<p>Once radical and taboo in mainstream Democratic circles, endorsing universal healthcare coverage is now de rigueur</p><p>There was a time, not too long ago – the iPhone, Facebook and Twitter all existed – when the two leading Democratic candidates for president of the United States didn’t support the right of gay people to marry. </p><p>“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage,” that inspiring tribune of hope and change, Barack Obama, declared in 2008. His rival, Hillary Clinton, concurred. Gay people shouldn’t be able to marry. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/14/universal-healthcare-america-bernie-sanders">Continue reading...</a>US newsBernie SandersHealthThu, 14 Sep 2017 10:00:39 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/14/universal-healthcare-america-bernie-sandersPhotograph: Call/Sipa USA/REX/ShutterstockPhotograph: Call/Sipa USA/REX/ShutterstockRoss Barkan2017-09-14T10:00:39ZStop talking right now about the threat of climate change. It’s here; it’s happening | Bill McKibbenhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/11/threat-climate-change-hurricane-harvey-irma-droughts
<p>Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, flash fires, droughts: all of them tell us one thing – we need to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and fast</p><p>For the sake of keeping things manageable, let’s confine the discussion to a single continent and a single week: North America over the last seven days.</p><p>In Houston they got down to the hard and unromantic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/08/hurricane-irma-harvey-katrina-houston-how-to-rebuild">work of recovery</a> from what economists announced was probably <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/irma-hurricane-insurance-billions/2017/09/05/id/811786/">the most expensive storm in US history</a>, and which weather analysts confirmed was certainly the greatest rainfall event ever measured in the country – across much of its spread it was a once-in-25,000-years storm, meaning 12 times past the birth of Christ; in isolated spots it was a once-in-500,000-years storm, which means back when we lived in trees. Meanwhile, San Francisco not only beat its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2017/jun/20/south-west-us-heatwave-in-pictures">all-time high temperature record</a>, it crushed it by 3F, which should be pretty much statistically impossible in a place with 150 years (that’s 55,000 days) of record-keeping.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/11/threat-climate-change-hurricane-harvey-irma-droughts">Continue reading...</a>Climate changeNatural disasters and extreme weatherClimate changeEnvironmentScienceHurricane HarveyHurricane IrmaUS newsWorld newsHurricane JoseMon, 11 Sep 2017 04:59:04 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/11/threat-climate-change-hurricane-harvey-irma-droughtsPhotograph: UPI / Barcroft ImagesPhotograph: UPI / Barcroft ImagesBill McKibben2017-09-11T04:59:04ZIf Mark Zuckerberg runs for president, will Facebook help him win? | Katherine Haenschenhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/09/mark-zuckerberg-president-facebook-algorithm
<p>Facebook can shift elections. That’s why, with rumors swirling that the social media CEO might run, transparency is needed now more than ever</p><p>Despite his protestations to the contrary, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been acting like someone planning to <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/01/8-photos-that-definitely-dont-show-mark-zuckerberg-running-for-president">run for office</a>. He hired a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/02/zuckerberg-hires-former-clinton-pollster-joel-benenson-241265">pollster</a>, visited a Detroit <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2017/04/27/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-ford-detroit/100989480/">auto plant</a> and other <a href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/life/2017/06/24/facebook-founder-zuckerberg-tours-iowa-small-towns/425818001/">swing-state</a> locations, and gave a high-profile commencement speech.</p><p>Meanwhile, Facebook has been under intense criticism for its role as a vector of misinformation in recent elections. This week, Facebook admitted that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/technology/facebook-russian-political-ads.html">Russian accounts</a> purchased $100,000 in political ads in 2015 and 2016. This disclosure comes only two months after the platform <a href="https://medium.com/digital-vault/facebook-refuses-to-release-political-advertising-data-d1c16fceb5d1">refused to disclose</a> who is paying for advertising on the platform and where they’re running.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/09/mark-zuckerberg-president-facebook-algorithm">Continue reading...</a>Mark ZuckerbergSilicon ValleyUS politicsUS political financingSat, 09 Sep 2017 10:00:05 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/09/mark-zuckerberg-president-facebook-algorithmPhotograph: Steven Senne/APPhotograph: Steven Senne/APKatherine Haenschen2017-09-09T10:00:05ZDonald Trump stabbed his party in the back. It might just pay off | Joe McLeanhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/11/donald-trump-betrayed-republican-party
<p>Americans are fed up with political gridlock. If President Trump continues to makes deals with Democrats, the rewards would be high – but there are risks</p><p>The mainstream, “establishment” Republican leadership made a cynical calculation to tolerate Donald Trump’s dangerous faults, believing they could use him to rubber-stamp their long-sought conservative legislative agenda. They made a bargain with a con man, and now he has betrayed them.</p><p>His deal last week with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi on debt limits and disaster spending is a huge political betrayal. But make no mistake: for Trump, it’s good politics.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/11/donald-trump-betrayed-republican-party">Continue reading...</a>US newsTrump administrationDonald TrumpUS politicsDemocratsMon, 11 Sep 2017 10:00:03 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/11/donald-trump-betrayed-republican-partyPhotograph: Kevin Lamarque/ReutersPhotograph: Kevin Lamarque/ReutersJoe McLean2017-09-11T10:00:03ZAre elite universities 'safe spaces'? Not if you're starting a union | Thomas Frankhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/09/elite-universities-safe-spaces-union
<p>For all their trigger warnings and safe spaces, places like Yale and Columbia are not very democratic when it comes to unions<br></p><p>It’s back-to-school season in America, and that means it’s the time of year when the pundit class is moved to lament the sad state of elite higher education. Over the next few weeks, our thought-leaders will scold this year’s class of overly sensitive Ivy League students, what with their safe spaces and trigger warnings.<br></p><p>Tough-minded columnists will sputter against fancy colleges that are covering up offensive sculptures and censoring offensive speakers. Readers will be invited to gape at the latest perversity served up by our radicalized professoriate and to mourn the decline of their dear old alma mater. What, oh what is this generation coming to, they will cry.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/09/elite-universities-safe-spaces-union">Continue reading...</a>US newsUS universitiesUS unionsSat, 09 Sep 2017 10:00:05 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/09/elite-universities-safe-spaces-unionPhotograph: Shannon Stapleton/ReutersPhotograph: Shannon Stapleton/ReutersThomas Frank2017-09-09T10:00:05ZWhy Verrit, a pro-Clinton media platform, is doomed to fail | Michael Paarlberghttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/08/verrit-pro-clinton-media-platform-doomed-failure
<p>The website has been blasted for its unsubtle propaganda. There is a reason it works for Republicans and not Democrats</p><ul><li>Michael Paarlberg is an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University</li></ul><p>The set of facts you get, on your TV or your Facebook feed, is increasingly a question of how you align politically. That the chief beneficiaries of this self-sorting trend have been conservative media is not lost on liberals. We need our own echo chamber, they say, to fight fake news with real news. Or memes, at least.</p><p>Enter Verrit, the most ill-conceived startup since Juicero. Brainchild of Clinton hyper-loyalist Peter Daou, the “media venture for the 65.8 million” (referring to Clinton’s popular vote tally) offers up treacly quotes and random factoids, readymade for social media and “verified” by the site, so that you can be sure Clinton really did say “America is once again at a moment of reckoning.”</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/08/verrit-pro-clinton-media-platform-doomed-failure">Continue reading...</a>US newsUS politicsHillary ClintonFri, 08 Sep 2017 15:02:04 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/08/verrit-pro-clinton-media-platform-doomed-failurePhotograph: Mary Altaffer/APPhotograph: Mary Altaffer/APMichael Paarlberg2017-09-08T15:02:04ZThe Guardian view on Macron’s Europe speech: a bold vision | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/the-guardian-view-on-macrons-europe-speech-a-bold-vision
After so many blows to the EU, the French president is seeking to reinvigorate the spirit that once brought the continent together<p>The speech <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/26/profound-transformation-macron-lays-out-vision-for-post-brexit-eu" title="">Emmanuel Macron delivered</a> on Tuesday about the future of Europe could easily have been anticipated as an exercise in wishful thinking, or just another attempt to boost EU morale. Speaking only two days after the German election had rattled nerves with a far-right surge, the French president was well aware that his words – and especially the way he would lay out his plans for deeper eurozone integration – would be scrutinised, at a time when Angela Merkel’s prospective coalition partners wouldn’t all necessarily be keen to endorse them.</p><p>For all its potential pitfalls, this was a welcome, forward-looking speech for the continent. The Brexit vote, Donald Trump, migration and the rise of populism have delivered blows to the EU. Even if the club’s economic prospects seem to be improving, its fragility remains real. Europe’s neighbourhood, conflicts in the Middle East, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey are all sources of concern.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/the-guardian-view-on-macrons-europe-speech-a-bold-vision">Continue reading...</a>European UnionEmmanuel MacronEuropeWorld newsFranceAngela MerkelGermanyBrexitArticle 50Foreign policyPoliticsEuroEuroTue, 26 Sep 2017 18:45:24 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/the-guardian-view-on-macrons-europe-speech-a-bold-visionPhotograph: POOL/ReutersPhotograph: POOL/ReutersEditorial2017-09-26T18:45:24ZThe Guardian view on North Korea and the US: shouting into the wind | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/the-guardian-view-on-north-korea-and-the-us-shouting-into-the-wind
The insults traded between Washington and Pyongyang tend to induce despair or laughter. We need to take them more seriously<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/25/north-koreas-foreign-minister-says-trump-has-declared-war-on-country" title="">escalating rhetoric</a> of both North Korea and the US president is prone to polarise its audience, resulting in two contradictory and equally imprudent strains of reaction. The&nbsp;first is panic. As the Trumpian tweets and&nbsp;blasts of Pyongyang propaganda grow more extreme, the spectre of war coalesces in the public mind. But it is still a spectre, and the most likely outcome is that the immediate crisis will pass as the others have: without satisfactory resolution, but also without catastrophe. The&nbsp;Korean peninsula is unlikely to go up in flames just yet, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2017/aug/08/trump-threatens-north-korea-with-fire-and-fury-video" title="">despite the fondness of both sides for threats of fire and ashes</a>.</p><p>The second is premature relief as the insults and missiles fly without resulting in any real-life casualties, unless one counts the egos of Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. These bombastic, swaggering adversaries could be straight from the pages of a satirical novel; the tendency to treat North Korea as comic relief is understandable, but profoundly wrong. There is nothing funny about the US telling a leadership with good reason to fear regime change that it “won’t be around much longer” and threatening to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/19/donald-trump-threatens-totally-destroy-north-korea-un-speech" title="">“totally destroy”</a> a country <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/26/why-are-north-koreas-leaders-specifically-threatening-us-bombers?CMP=share_btn_tw" title="">it previously carpet-bombed</a>. Nor about North Korea describing the first remark as a “declaration of war” and threatening in response to shoot down US bombers outside its airspace.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/the-guardian-view-on-north-korea-and-the-us-shouting-into-the-wind">Continue reading...</a>North KoreaDonald TrumpKim Jong-unAsia PacificWorld newsUS newsNuclear weaponsUS militaryTue, 26 Sep 2017 18:44:08 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/the-guardian-view-on-north-korea-and-the-us-shouting-into-the-windPhotograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty ImagesEditorial2017-09-26T18:44:08ZThe Guardian view on heresy: is the pope Catholic? | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/the-guardian-view-on-heresy-is-the-pope-catholic
Pope Francis has been accused of heresy for his efforts to liberalise the church’s understanding of divorce<p>A group of conservative clerics has accused Pope Francis of heresy for his attempts to liberalise the church’s treatment of divorced people. This raises an interesting question: how long must a pope be dead before his opinions can safely be ignored? For many people the answer is “no time at all”: it is not just humanists, Muslims and Protestants, but the vast majority of the world’s Catholics who take little notice of Catholic doctrine when they disagree with it. The Catholic right ignores more than a hundred years of consistent papal teaching against the excesses of capitalism, along with more recent denunciations of the death penalty, of wars of aggression and of <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html" title="">environmental destruction</a>. The Catholic left ignores the pope’s teachings on sexuality – and everyone ignores the ban on contraception.</p><p>Popes themselves, however, are meant to take their predecessors very seriously even though neither party is writing infallibly. Papal encyclicals read like legal documents, buttressed with footnotes to prove that doctrine has not changed, and that they are just repeating what their predecessors meant, even when they contradict what was plainly said. Those magnificent robes conceal some very fancy footwork at times. It is an article of faith – literally – that doctrine can never change, only develop, and the eye of faith can&nbsp;clearly see the subtle differences between change, development and decay. So the <a href="http://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius09/p9syll.htm" title="">19th-century denunciations</a> of democracy and freedom of thought and conscience are now ignored, but pope John Paul II’s refusal to admit women priests looks certain to stand for another couple of centuries at least.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/the-guardian-view-on-heresy-is-the-pope-catholic">Continue reading...</a>Pope FrancisCatholicismThe papacyPope John Paul IIChristianityReligionMarriageDivorceSexualitySocietyWorld newsMon, 25 Sep 2017 17:48:19 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/the-guardian-view-on-heresy-is-the-pope-catholicPhotograph: via ZUMA Wire/REX/ShutterstockPhotograph: via ZUMA Wire/REX/ShutterstockEditorial2017-09-25T17:48:19ZThe Guardian view on Germany’s elections: Merkel’s victory | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/24/guardian-view-german-elections
It is worrying that a xenophobic nationalist party will have a parliamentary presence but the mainstream parties will dominate the government<p>With her centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leading today’s vote, Angela Merkel is set to remain Germany’s chancellor, for a fourth consecutive term. This comes as no surprise. Her popularity has remained high. While her party captured a lower percentage of votes than in 2013, she was dominant throughout the campaign while her main opponent, the Social Democrat Martin Schulz, failed to mount a convincing challenge. Just a fifth of voters backed the Social Democrats (SPD), and Mr Schulz announced that he would not renew the grand coalition with Mrs Merkel, who will now open talks with the pro-business FDP liberals (at 10%) and the Greens (at 9%).</p><p>Europe’s most powerful leader has delivered yet more proof of her political resilience. Key to Mrs Merkel’s longevity is what some observers have called her strategy of “asymmetric demobilisation”: by co-opting many of her mainstream adversaries’ policies, whether on nuclear energy, minimum wage or gay marriage, she has left them very little space indeed. What space has opened up is on the extremist, nationalist fringe. By reaching 13%, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has come out stronger than many had anticipated during the campaign. For the first time in decades, a xenophobic and rabidly anti-European movement will be represented in the Bundestag.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/24/guardian-view-german-elections">Continue reading...</a>GermanyAngela MerkelEuropeWorld newsSun, 24 Sep 2017 18:14:29 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/24/guardian-view-german-electionsPhotograph: Joerg Carstensen/APPhotograph: Joerg Carstensen/APEditorial2017-09-24T18:14:29ZThe Guardian view on the Kurdish referendum: a fair question | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/22/the-guardian-view-on-the-kurdish-referendum-a-fair-question
The vote by Iraqi Kurds on their desire for independence, due to take place on Monday, poses real risks in an unstable region. But their case deserves to be heard<p>If not now, when? This is the obvious and reasonable question of Iraqi Kurds seeking to exercise the right to self-determination – enshrined by the UN charter, though often ignored – in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/22/masoud-barzani-on-the-kurdish-referendum-iraq-we-refuse-to-be-subordinates" title="">a referendum on Monday</a>. They already enjoy a high degree of autonomy. They believe their key role in the fight against Islamic State demands recognition, giving them leverage over western powers; and that the alternative is continued, subordinate membership of a broken and divided Iraq, a&nbsp;century after the Sykes-Picot carve-up.</p><p>The response has been overwhelmingly negative. The rest of Iraq, the US, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UK, the EU and the Arab League all oppose the vote thanks to concerns ranging from Kurdish secessionism within their own borders and the furthering of ethnic divisions to the immense dangers it poses in a perilously unstable region – particularly given that voting covers the disputed territories the Kurds have gained in the fight against Isis. The US and others want the vote postponed, understandably. But “later” is almost as unsatisfactory an answer&nbsp;as “never” to Kurdish leader Masoud&nbsp;Barzani and his supporters – and that&nbsp;too is understandable.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/22/the-guardian-view-on-the-kurdish-referendum-a-fair-question">Continue reading...</a>KurdsIraqPoliticsUnited NationsIslamic StateMiddle East and North AfricaWorld newsFri, 22 Sep 2017 17:32:40 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/22/the-guardian-view-on-the-kurdish-referendum-a-fair-questionPhotograph: The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty ImagPhotograph: The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty ImagEditorial2017-09-22T17:32:40ZThe Guardian view on Catalonia: step back from the brink | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/the-guardian-view-on-catalonia-step-back-from-the-brink
Madrid has badly mishandled a deliberately provocative referendum<p>The president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, writes in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/catalonia-bloack-catalonia-referendum-rights-mariano-rajoy-carles-puigdemont" title="">the Guardian</a> that “a de facto state of emergency” has ended Catalan home rule just weeks ahead of a planned referendum on independence. Madrid appears deaf to the argument that its heavy-handed attempts to stop the vote will only ultimately strengthen support for secession. A judge sent in the police to arrest a dozen local officials; the Guardia Civil seized millions of ballot papers; the central finance ministry took over the region’s finances to prevent public money from being used in the&nbsp;vote. All the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has achieved by being so oblivious to public sentiment in Catalonia is to harden opinion in the region and draw thousands onto the streets.</p><p>If nothing is done to work towards a compromise, a political train wreck threatens in the EU’s largest southern member state. This situation has been long in the making. A key tipping point came when Spain’s constitutional court in 2010 knocked down parts of a revised “statute of autonomy” – the result of a compromise reached four years earlier between Madrid’s then Socialist prime minister and the then centre-right Catalan nationalists. That was a document which boosted Catalonia’s already impressive levels of self-government. But Mr Rajoy’s conservative People’s party had lambasted the agreement as a dagger aimed at the heart of Spain’s 1978 constitution, and appealed to the constitutional court. Their victory there caused a reaction: the Catalan political leadership shifted towards separatism.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/the-guardian-view-on-catalonia-step-back-from-the-brink">Continue reading...</a>CataloniaSpainWorld newsEuropeEuropean UnionMariano RajoyThu, 21 Sep 2017 18:53:14 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/the-guardian-view-on-catalonia-step-back-from-the-brinkPhotograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesEditorial2017-09-21T18:53:14ZThe Guardian view on markets: buyer, beware | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/the-guardian-view-on-markets-buyer-beware
The world of fixed prices is giving way to one of constant, invisible auctions<p>Virgin trains has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/20/virgin-east-coast-auction-first-class-seats-bid-upgrade-price" title="">launched an app</a> so that passengers can upgrade from standard by bidding for a seat in first class. For a minimum offer of £5, the free drinks and the antimacassars can be yours. It is your judgment against your fellow passengers’. Virgin’s airline businesses already do the same thing on their flights, through an app called <a href="http://www.plusgrade.com/" title="">Plusgrade</a>, which is used by a score or more other airlines. The relationship between buyer and seller is becoming increasingly dynamic: the tactics of the bazaar facilitated by technology. The world of fixed prices and set margins is giving way to an endless unseen auction where what the buyer is willing to pay is assessed by an algorithm based on where the potential purchaser is located and what they have spent in the past. There is an asymmetry here: the advantage that the web appears to give to shoppers by enabling them to compare prices has been <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-surge-pricing-are-you-getting-ripped-off-small-business/" title="">covertly subverted</a> by sites like Amazon that have complete control over what prices appear to be available to any given buyer. Like Uber’s surge pricing, charging according to demand is a technique as ancient as the first commercial exchange. Yet it is also a betrayal of the idea of a fair price fixed by the cost of materials and labour modified by what the market will bear. The idea of a plush ride to Edinburgh for just a few pounds more than the basic fare is one thing. But when the middleman controls the price, neither producer nor consumer wins.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/the-guardian-view-on-markets-buyer-beware">Continue reading...</a>Virgin TrainsBusinessVirgin GroupAmazonE-commerceInternetTechnologyMoneyRail faresRail travelThu, 21 Sep 2017 18:40:32 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/the-guardian-view-on-markets-buyer-bewarePhotograph: Matt Crossick/PAPhotograph: Matt Crossick/PAEditorial2017-09-21T18:40:32ZThe Guardian view on children’s mental health: not an optional extra | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/20/the-guardian-view-on-childrens-mental-health-not-an-optional-extra
The latest research shows the crisis is even worse than anyone realised. Wellbeing must be put back where it belongs – at the heart of what schools do<p>Adolescence is notorious for its moments of misery that at least for the fortunate are unequalled in later life. Almost every adult looks back on the eruption of spots and the inexplicable weight gain, the exam pressures and the mishandled relationship crises with sympathy for their earlier selves. So it is no surprise to discover that in any given fortnight, many teenagers have felt low. The shock is just how low, and how many. Nearly one in four 14-year-old girls and almost one in 10 boys the same age, say they have felt inadequate, unloved, or worthless. That means that hundreds of thousands of young teenagers are experiencing a range of feelings that amount to a diagnosis of clinical depression; worst of all, the numbers are disproportionately higher in poorer families. The <a href="http://www.health.org.uk/blog/dealing-epidemic-disempowerment?gclid=CjwKCAjwo4jOBRBmEiwABWNaMSjhI_wfIWK_0yqUAdtyWPC0-26rQGesb2zpJMyJYcUU1W8fp7Ov4BoCn3UQAvD_BwE">link between poverty and depression</a> is well established. Now it is clear that long before children from low-income families even start their first job, they are at greater risk. The crisis in children’s mental health is even more extensive than anyone realised.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/21/primary-school-teachers-not-trained-to-deal-with-mental-health-issues">Primary school teachers 'not trained to deal with mental health issues'</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/20/the-guardian-view-on-childrens-mental-health-not-an-optional-extra">Continue reading...</a>Mental healthHealthSocietyYoung peopleChildrenGuidesTheresa MayPoliticsWed, 20 Sep 2017 23:05:18 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/20/the-guardian-view-on-childrens-mental-health-not-an-optional-extraPhotograph: AlamyPhotograph: AlamyEditorial2017-09-20T23:05:18ZThe Guardian view on Trump at the UN: bluster and belligerence | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/the-guardian-view-on-trump-at-the-un-bluster-and-belligerence
The US president is wrong to think that nations acting in their own self-interest would on their own create a more stable world. Countries need to work together under rules to which they agree to adhere<p>Whatever its difficulties, the United Nations must surely be cherished. Founded in 1945 under US leadership after the defeat of Nazism and imperial Japan, the UN remains the central pillar of the global order. At its core has stood the ambition that peace, international security and human rights would be better protected than they were by the 1930s League of Nations (whose founding treaty the US Senate refused to ratify). The UN is the only existing forum where the representatives of all nation states can be brought together to try to address crises and common challenges.</p><p>Donald Trump’s first address to the organisation’s annual general assembly was anticipated with dread by many – and rightly so. This US president is after all the first in history to have made heaping <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/19/politics/trump-united-nations-history/index.html">scorn on the UN something of a pastime</a>. His views on the subject have ranged from crude hostility to abject ignorance. The speech he delivered was scripted – not the ramblings of a maverick whose taste for rash tweets and cheap provocations have become an almost daily routine. It was deeply worrying all the same. Unlike his eloquent predecessor, President Trump trades in crass belligerence. His speech will be remembered for its ominous language.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/the-guardian-view-on-trump-at-the-un-bluster-and-belligerence">Continue reading...</a>United NationsWorld newsDonald TrumpNuclear weaponsUS newsIranTue, 19 Sep 2017 18:02:25 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/the-guardian-view-on-trump-at-the-un-bluster-and-belligerencePhotograph: Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesEditorial2017-09-19T18:02:25ZThe Guardian view on the Lib Dem conference: keeping calm and carrying on | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/the-guardian-view-on-the-lib-dem-conference-keeping-calm-and-carrying-on
Vince Cable’s party is positioning itself for a change in the political weather<p>For a party so badly scorched by its experience of power, and with only a fifth of the seats it held three years ago, the Liberal Democrats had some cause for optimism as they gathered in Bournemouth this week. In Vince Cable they have a new yet experienced and well-respected leader. The vote for Brexit gave them a renewed sense of purpose and encouraged a <a href="https://www.libdems.org.uk/liberal-democrats-membership-doubles" title="">surge in members</a>, taking their numbers to over 100,000. Despite their poor showing in this year’s general election, they boast a markedly stronger parliamentary team, including Sir Vince, his deputy Jo Swinson and newcomer Layla Moran.</p><p>The leader highlighted their two opportunities <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/19/lib-dems-will-not-succeed-as-reverse-ukip-says-vince-cable" title="">in his speech on Tuesday</a>. Labour’s divisions over the EU created the Liberal Democrats’ opportunity with remainers; but the more recent evolution of its policy gives them hope that a hard Brexit can be avoided if “political adults” work together. Though Sir Vince has pledged that his party will not be “Ukip in reverse”, he hopes its pro-European stance will place it on the right side of history, as opposition to the Iraq war did.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/the-guardian-view-on-the-lib-dem-conference-keeping-calm-and-carrying-on">Continue reading...</a>Liberal DemocratsLiberal Democrat conference 2017PoliticsVince CableTue, 19 Sep 2017 17:59:04 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/the-guardian-view-on-the-lib-dem-conference-keeping-calm-and-carrying-onPhotograph: Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesEditorial2017-09-19T17:59:04ZStreets in St Louis – and everywhere – belong to us. Not brutal cops | Steven W Thrasherhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/st-louis-police-violence-protest
<p>When the state fails to address the law enforcement crisis, agitating in the streets is the only way to move forward</p><p>America has been rocked by countless protests over the past few years. One chant that has been heard from activists time and time again is: “Whose streets? Our streets!” That’s why it was so jarring when, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/18/hundreds-of-police-officers-in-st-louis-chant-after-breaking-up-protests">this week</a>, police in St Louis marched the streets shouting the line as they broke up a legitimate protest and <a href="http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/09/18/80-arrested-st-louis-protests-over-police-officer%E2%80%99s-acquittal-3">arrested</a> 80 people, including a <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/as-arrests-are-made-protesters-question-the-tactics-used-by/article_e58481b7-f7c2-541e-91d2-31a6379f272c.html">journalist</a> covering the events.</p><p>Sadly, St Louis isn’t the only place plagued by a high-profile police killing this week. A student was <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/09/21/georgia-tech-erupts-police-response-questioned-after-fatal-shooting">killed</a> by campus police in Georgia, and a deaf Hispanic man was <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/21/552527929/oklahoma-city-police-fatally-shoot-deaf-man-despite-yells-of-he-cant-hear-you">killed</a> by police in Oklahoma (despite calls that “he can’t hear”). Still, St Louis has, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/12/mike-brown-ferguson-shooting-police-black">once again</a>, emerged as the place where the national crisis of American police violence against black people has come into the clearest focus. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/st-louis-police-violence-protest">Continue reading...</a>US newsRace issuesUS policingThu, 21 Sep 2017 19:37:45 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/st-louis-police-violence-protestPhotograph: Jeff Roberson/APPhotograph: Jeff Roberson/APSteven W Thrasher2017-09-21T19:37:45ZWhy is the government stifling the free speech of a private citizen? | Jessica Valentihttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/15/jemele-hill-espn-governmentfree-speech
<p>It’s a chilling time for this country for many reasons, writes Jessica Valenti in this edition of The Week in Patriarchy </p><ul><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/info/2017/jan/19/this-week-in-the-patriarchy-jessica-valenti-email">Get this newsletter via email – sign up</a></li></ul><p>As I write this, the internet is aflame with attacks on Jemele Hill – a reporter at ESPN who dared to call the president what he is: a racist and a white supremacist. In response, an incredible amount of hate and harassment has been directed at Hill, and the White House has called for her firing. (Where are those conservative ‘free speech’ absolutists when you need them?)</p><p>It’s a chilling time for this country for many reasons. But when the government attempts to stifle the speech of a private citizen and journalist because she criticized the president … this is a new level of horror.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/15/jemele-hill-espn-governmentfree-speech">Continue reading...</a>Fri, 15 Sep 2017 20:17:09 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/15/jemele-hill-espn-governmentfree-speechPhotograph: Rex/ShutterstockPhotograph: Rex/ShutterstockJessica Valenti2017-09-15T20:17:09ZIce agents are out of control. And they are only getting worse | Trevor Timmhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/31/ice-agents-out-of-control-immigration-arrests
<p>The agency is so harmful to civil rights, there’s a good argument it should be disbanded altogether. Unfortunately they are only becoming more emboldened </p><p>With arrests of non-violent undocumented immigrants exploding across the country, it’s almost as if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents are having an internal contest to see who can participate in the most cruel and inhumane arrest possible. The agency, emboldened by Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric, is out of control – and Congress is doing little to stop them. </p><p>Last week, Ice agents <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-michigan-restaurant-immigration-arrests-20170525-story.html">ate breakfast at a Michigan restaurant</a>, complimented the chef on their meal and then proceeded to arrest three members of the restaurants kitchen staff, according to the owner. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/31/ice-agents-out-of-control-immigration-arrests">Continue reading...</a>US immigrationUS newsWed, 31 May 2017 10:00:21 GMThttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/31/ice-agents-out-of-control-immigration-arrestsPhotograph: Lucy Nicholson/ReutersPhotograph: Lucy Nicholson/ReutersTrevor Timm2017-05-31T10:00:21Z